The Mariner's Mirror Podcast

In this commemorative episode of Mariner’s Mirror Podcast , host Dr Sam Willis marks the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar by exploring the exact location and circumstances of Admiral Lord Nelson’s death aboard HMS Victory on the 21st of October 1805. Joined by Andrew Baines, Executive Director of Museum Operations at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, and Dr Dan O’Brien, hi...

Studying the history of safety at sea reveals how hard-earned lessons from past tragedies have shaped the protections we rely on today. For centuries, seafaring was one of the most dangerous human activities. Shipwrecks, storms, fires, and collisions claimed countless lives, often because of poor ship design, inadequate training, or the absence of regulations. By understanding this history, we see...

Dr Sam Willis meets Andrew Lambert to discuss his fantastic new book No More Napoleons. Lambert has reshaped how we think about Britain’s role in international politics from the 19th century onward and focuses on Britain’s determination to prevent the rise of any single, dominant continental power after the defeat of Napoleon. This strategic goal—maintaining a balance of power in Europe—guided Bri...

This is the second episode in a mini series on the history of the Clan Line, one of Britain’s most distinctive and influential shipping companies. In this episode Dr Sam Willis travels the length and breadth of the UK to speak with sailors who served on Clan Line ships, to hear and preserve their memories of this most crucial time in global maritime history. Founded in Glasgow in 1877 by Charles C...

The Clan Line was one of Britain’s most distinctive and influential shipping companies, leaving a lasting mark on maritime and economic history. Founded in Glasgow in 1877 by Charles Cayzer, the line quickly grew into a vast fleet that connected Scotland with Africa, India, and beyond. Famed for its combination of commercial power and cultural identity, every ship bore a “Clan” name, giving the co...

Today we travel to the final months of the Second World War when the Germans began to develop midget submarines. The allies had crossed the channel and invaded Normandy in June 1944 and were slowly battling their away through France towards Germany. The Russians meanwhile were making huge advances in the east. German UBoats continued to fight in the Atlantic but by this period their potency had be...

This episode forms part of a new strand of our podcast: Seapower Past and Present which explores seapower as it is understood and practised in the modern world whilst offering a historical perspective on the themes we explore. Each episode is chosen according to a theme or a location – a hotspot in the modern world where seapower has a major influence on geopolitics. So if you enjoy this episode d...

This episode explores a subject of great contemporary interest and significance: the morals of behaviour at sea. What are the origins of the idea of a captain going down with his ship? When did it become expected to save anyone from shipwreck - regardless of their nationality, religion or status? Are we living in a world where the expected moral norms of seafaring are now changing? To find out mor...

This episode explores the fascinating story of the German Atlantic expedition of 1925, in which the survey ship Meteor spent two years mapping the seafloor of the Atlantic as well as making other scientific discoveries which fundamentally changed the way that we think about the world. It’s a hugely important moment in oceanography and science as well as in the history of Europe - when Germany was...

This episode continues our series on the Cinque Ports, an ancient confederation of towns in southeast England that provided ships and men to the crown in return for special powers and privileges. They have since become rightly dubbed as the cradle of the Royal Navy. This episode brings us to New Romney, one of the original five head ports. New Romney retains its deep maritime heritage and signific...

This episode forms part of a new strand of our podcast: Seapower Past and Present which explores seapower as it is understood and practised in the modern world whilst offering a historical perspective on the themes we explore. Each episode is chosen according to a theme or a location – a hotspot in the modern world where seapower has a major influence on geopolitics. So if you enjoy this episode d...

This episode explores the career of the nineteenth-century Scottish naval officer and explorer Sir John Ross and focuses in particular on the vessels he took to on his voyages to the Arctic. These were the Isabella, a Hull-built merchantman of 385 tons; Victory , a side-wheel steamer with paddles that could be lifted away from the ice and was fitted with an experimental high-pressure boiler; and F...

This episode forms part of a new strand of our podcast: Seapower Past and Present which explores seapower as it is understood and practised in the modern world whilst offering a historical perspective on the themes we explore. Each episode is chosen according to a theme or a location – a hotspot in the modern world where seapower has a major influence on geopolitics. So if you enjoy this episode d...

This episode forms part of a new strand of our podcast: Seapower Past and Present which explores seapower as it is understood and practised in the modern world whilst offering a historical perspective on the themes we explore. Each episode is chosen according to a theme or a location – a hotspot in the modern world where seapower has a major influence on geopolitics. So if you enjoy this episode d...

The paddle steamer Waverley is one of the real treasures of the maritime world. The last surviving seagoing and passenger-carrying paddle steamer, she continues to this day to take day trippers on joyrides around our coast, her paddles churning up the sea as she goes. Built on the Clyde in 1946 she spent almost thirty years taking passengers up to Loch Long before being bought by the Paddle Steame...

This episode continues our series on the Cinque Ports, an ancient confederation of towns in southeast England that provided ships and men to the crown in return for special powers and privileges. They have since become rightly dubbed as the cradle of the Royal Navy. This episode brings us to the lovely town of Tenterden, which joined the Cinque Ports confederation in 1449 supplying ships and men a...

This episode forms part of a new strand of our podcast: Seapower Past and Present which explores seapower as it is understood and practised in the modern world whilst offering a historical perspective on the themes we explore. Each episode is chosen according to a theme or a location – a hotspot in the modern world where seapower has a major influence on geopolitics. So if you enjoy this episode d...

This episode forms part of a new strand of our podcast: Seapower Past and Present which explores seapower as it is understood and practised in the modern world whilst offering a historical perspective on the themes we explore. Each episode is chosen according to a theme or a location – a hotspot in the modern world where seapower has a major influence on geopolitics. So if you enjoy this episode d...

This episode forms part of a new strand of our podcast: Seapower Past and Present which explores seapower as it is understood and practised in the modern world whilst offering a historical perspective on the themes we explore. Each episode is chosen according to a theme or a location – a hotspot in the modern world where seapower has a major influence on geopolitics. So if you enjoy this episode d...

This episode continues our series on the Cinque Ports, an ancient confederation of maritime towns in southeast England that from the early Middle Ages provided ships and men to the crown in return for special powers and privileges. They have since become rightly dubbed as the cradle of the Royal Navy. Our first episode explored the Cinque Ports’ rich history and now we’re on the road, visiting the...

The Bremen Cog is a historical gem; the best-preserved medieval trading ship in the world. We know from her beautifully-preserved timbers that her construction dates from 1380, and her discovery dramatically unlocked a fascinating world not only of shipbuilding and seamanship but also of trade. This was a period in which trade routes and shipping were readying themselves for a great awakening that...

This episode is the first of a series on the history of the Cinque Ports in which we bring you a mixture of fascinating history alongside a glimpse into contemporary life in these vibrant and ancient maritime towns.  In the eleventh century during the reign of Edward the Confessor, five ports in the south-east of England joined together into a confederation for mutual protection and trade pri...

A mini-series on the maritime history of Germany launches with a visit to the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, which has recently launched a stand-out new permanent exhibition ' Ship Realms - The Ocean and Us .' Through the clever presentation of artefacts amongst immersive displays, the exhibition powerfully makes the point that, the more we know about the connection between ships, shi...

In 1920, in the Cammell, Laird & Co. shipyard in Birkenhead, a ship was built that would change the shipbuilding industry and shipyards forever. ss Fullagar was the world's first fully welded ocean-going ship. For generations, ships' iron and steel hulls had been held together with rivets, put in place by specialist teams of riveters. In 1920 electric arc-welding was not a new technology but h...

This episode continues our work bringing you some of the finest original historical material, written by the people who were actually there. Today we bring you the war diary of the U-boat commander  Kapitänleutnant   Walther Schwieger , commander of U-20, from May 1915, when he sank the transatlantic liner Lusitania , full of civilian passengers. 1193 people died. On Friday 7th May 1915,...